150,000 — that’s the number of post-traumatic stress disability claims submitted by America’s veterans every year since 2010. It is the third most common service-connected disability among those who receive treatment and financial support from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

For many of these veterans, navigating the VA’s labyrinth of bureaucracy and wait times to receive medication can seem their only option for treatment. But there’s another source of help that many veterans and victims of post-traumatic stress already use: the use of service dogs to treat mental injuries. Tell the VA to approve the use of service dogs to treat post-traumatic stress and other service-connected mental injuries.

There are endless stories about the impact service dogs have made on the lives of people living with post-traumatic stress and depression. From alleviating anxiety and panic attacks, to helping them overcome the fear of leaving their home, service dogs provide immense support for people with mental illness and trauma. 

Vets in need of an alternative to prescription medication have to pay out of pocket or seek the assistance of nonprofit organizations that specialize in this type of treatment. Service dogs can cost as much as $40,000, and the organizations that provide them for free often have long waiting lists. 

The VA continues to deny veterans coverage for the use of service dogs to treat post-traumatic stress and other mental injuries, claiming there isn't enough clinical evidence to prove service dogs are an effective form of treatment. It launched a new research effort in 2014 to study the use of service dogs to treat post-traumatic stress and its symptoms, but this $10 million study won’t produce results until 2018 or 2019.

Don’t let America’s veterans suffer any longer. The VA doesn’t need to spend $10 million and wait another four years to figure out that service dogs are a viable and life-changing alternative to treating post-traumatic stress. The VA needs to stop making excuses and offer veterans the alternative care they need now; not five years from now.

Please sign this petition, and tell the Department of Veterans Affairs to recognize service dogs as a treatment option for veterans with post-traumatic stress.